Summer Strawberry Pavlova

Summer Strawberry Pavlova is one of my absolute favourite treats at this time of year! It’s light, it’s creamy, and you can pile it high with beautiful fresh British strawberries, which are definitely the best strawbs in the world. It’s wonderfully easy to make and it’s simply beautiful to eat on a warm summer afternoon in the garden. The vanilla cream can be subbed for lightly beaten thick vanilla chantilly cream if you don’t have any vanilla bean paste. The vanilla goes perfectly with the strawbs and the flecks of vanilla pod make this pudding that little bit fancier!

I always make the meringue base the night before so it can cool and dry out in the oven.

You need:

4 large free range egg whites
225g caster sugar
2 tsp white wine vinegar
300ml double cream (cold)
1 dessert spoon of vanilla bean paste
2 punnets of fresh British strawberries

You also need a square cookie sheet or flat baking tray covered in baking parchment

Preheat your oven to 150°c.
Place your egg whites in a bowl (or a standmixer) and beat on high speed until they are fluffy, airy, and foamy but not too stiff. You’re looking for soft peaks but you don’t want it to be overly stiff.
Turn the speed of the mixer to medium and slowly add the sugar, one dessert spoon at a time. Keep going until it’s all in there then beat on high speed for 30 seconds. Add the vinegar and beat for another minute on medium-high.
Look at the mixture – is it forming stiff peaks? You should be able to turn the whole bowl upside down without it falling out or dripping.
Spoon the mixture out onto the parchment covered baking sheet and spread into a circle. Hollow out the middle section slightly so it looks like a big nest. This will be where your cream and strawbs go.
Pop the meringue into the oven and immediately turn it down to 140°c. I use an oven thermometer here to ensure it’s perfect.
Bake for an hour and 15 mins. It should be a very very pale golden/beige. DO NOT take it out of the oven. Turn the oven off and leave the meringue to cool inside it. It’s best left overnight. If you don’t have overnight, it needs at least four hours left on its own in the oven.
The next morning, you can either leave it in the oven until you need it or if you are using your oven you can remove it and store it in an airtight container.
Wash and chop the strawberries and leave to dry on a clean tea towel.
Add the vanilla to the cream and beat until it’s fluffy and soft – be careful not to overbeat it as it can go from almost perfect to very stodgy in seconds. Keep testing it – it will look different as it starts to change so watch it like a hawk. You want it to be light and fluffy.
When you’re not far off serving it, spread the cream over the middle of the giant meringue nest and pile the strawberries on top. Place in the fridge for 15 mins.
When you’re ready to eat, dust lightly with icing sugar if you have some handy (I didn’t when I took the pic above!) and serve!